A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno

I liked this biography a long time ago now but very good.

I've read a fair number of books on the Mothers And Fathers Italian Association including Honor Thy Father by Gay Talese, and Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story by Bill Bonanno, but this is the first book of its type that's actually imparted a kind of logic to Mafioso thinking.Joseph (Peppino) Bonanno was a Godfather of the Old School, and he may actually have BEEN the Godfather that Mario Puzo based his Godfather on in The Godfather.In these pages, the college-educated, literate and thoughtful Bonanno comes across as a man of erudition, a man who consciously CHOSE to uphold the traditions of the Sicilian Vespers, traditions of Family and Honor, Loyalty and Silence. It's ironic that he chooses to speak in these pages, but having read him, this reviewer could understand him (somewhat); at least his belief system is not so utterly alien to this reader.Is A MAN OF HONOR candid? Yes and no. Bonanno certainly evades some subjects, particularly those that could get him indicted by the law or killed by his rivals. He'd be a fool to speak on those, and this man is no fool, and certainly not Joe Valachi, in any case. This is not a confessional book. Leaving aside his choice to stay silent on certain subject matter, Bonanno does explain things as he sees them.Sicily has been conquered and occupied by virtually everyone else who ever had a maritime interest in the Mediterranean (that IS everyone else). As a result, there are brunette Sicilians, blond Sicilians, redheaded Sicilians, white Sicilians, black Sicilians, and every shade in-between Sicilians. There are Sicilian hill-folk, Sicilian plainsmen, Sicilian townsmen, Sicilian country-dwellers. There are Sicilian farmers, Sicilian fishermen, Sicilian cattlemen, Sicilian sheep ranchers, Sicilian fruit farmers and Sicilian grain merchants. Each group often spoke its own dialect. This smallish island is a palimpsest of peoples moving through history.Since Sicily was so often subjugated, the locals learned not to trust the occupiers who most often exploited or abused them. Even the eventual Italian government in Rome was alien to the island and tried to force its ways upon the islanders.This made Sicilians dour and closemouted (except amongst friends), hotheaded and prone to violence (most often between strangers). (f)amily was the basis of everything. The numerosity of Sicilian children meant that families intermarried widely with other families, and these interlinked families became clans. Internecine generational warfare between clans (a la the Hatfields and the McCoys) was not uncommon. Neither were cross-generational alliances. As close friendships formed and friends became accepted members of these clans, they slowly transmogrified into the (F)amilies we understand today. These Families were, in their inception, actual families.According to Bonanno, the admittedly legendary beginnings of the Mafia date back to the 1300s, when local Sicilians took up cudgels against a French occupier who had raped a village girl; her distraught mother ran through the streets shouting, "Ma fia! Ma fia!, My daughter! My daughter!""Ma fia!" soon became a Sicilian acronym, MAFIA, for what translates roughly as "Down With France, Up With Italy!" Even Bonanno doesn't quite buy this story, and he says so; he's almost certainly correct, for no other reason than that "Italia" didn't exist as such until the late Nineteenth Century.The Mafia functioned as a shadow government in which "connections" meant everything, and, given the vagaries of human nature, ability rather less. The shadow government could supply employment, bribe officialdom, and mete out justice (rough and otherwise) to the population. It worked in Sicily, paternalistically, and often at a high cost in blood and treasure, but it did work in place of the often brutal rulership; when the Sicilians came to America, the Mafia came with them.Bonanno revers the Traditions of his ancestors, and in more than one place decries their erosion in America. He's both right and wrong. In a pure democracy, the Mafia would become as useful as an inflamed appendix, but in a less-than-pure democracy it had a place. And so it did. In a sense, it functioned similarly to the homegrown landsmenschaften of the Jews or the Benevolent Associations of the Irish, but having been an outlaw group from its beginnings it remained an outlaw group.It is important to realize that most Italian immigrants shied away from the Mafia and created democratic law-abiding support organizations like their non-Italian neighbors did. Still, a hard core of Family-oriented people remained and still remain.The Italian immigrant influx of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was spurred by the rise of Fascism, and the newly-arrived Family-oriented immigrants (like Bonanno) found a niche in the illegal but widely tolerated practice of bootlegging. Having subverted Prohibition, the Families moved into other illegal enterprises like loan sharking and extortion. At the same time, they continued their old warfare. The Castellammarese War of the 1930s was brutal and caused tremendous attrition, but it did lead to the organization of the Families in the way most Americans are familiar with them today, structured to ensure peace (mostly) amongst themselves.Even as the Families organized and grew and gained influence in America they began to die, says Bonanno. In retrospect, the Castellammarese War was a first death knell, as due to attrition by death, "men not of our Tradition," non-Sicilian Italians (like Joe Valachi, a Neapolitan, Bonanno points out with a sniff), and others (Jewish mobsters like Meyer Lansky) were permitted to serve the Families (they were never to be considered as full Family members, but they soon outnumbered the Sicilians themselves). The openness of American society broke down the centuries-old omerta. Children married non-Sicilians. Papas lost their life and death veto power. The concept of Mob "Bosses" replaced that of Family "Fathers," with a corresponding decline in unanimity. Pure greed and moneymaking replaced the wielding of influence and the wages of respect as primary motivations for the Families. Lucky Luciano (or "Charlie Lucky" as Bonanno calls him) became the prototype for this new American Mafioso. Competition-based killings between and even within Families gutted them out. Even the children most inculcated into the Tradition failed to grasp it fully (visit my review of Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story) for my take on this point.It's when speaking of the Tradition and of its rise and fall that Bonanno speaks most clearly. Sometimes, he's downright funny, as when he describes his attempts to win over his explosive would-be father-in-law. Other times, he's much less endearing, as when he admits his glee at an enemy's death.He's also got the world's best poker face. He describes the Family as a self-contained mutual support society of doctors, lawyers, small businessmen, laborers, tradesmen and their wives and children, essentially harmless. Illicit activities like bookmaking are waved off with, "That's not considered a crime in our world." He claims to have banned traffic in women and in narcotics from his Family, but "If a man wanted to go into business with someone outside of our world that was his decision," a statement which covers a multitude of literal sins. He claims never to have taken graft (probably true; why would HE need to be paid off?). He claims never to have accepted a penny for his role as Father to the Family, "but if people wanted to show their respect with a gift of money, how could I disrespect their good intentions?" and he admits to receiving free services and products as a sign of respect. The fact that this respect often contained a good-sized dollop of fear doesn't seem to occur to him, or at least he never admits it. He plays up his legal business connections, all the while saying that he accepted stock or an officership in these various companies because the owners "wanted" him for a partner. In what might be laughable, he describes strong-arm men as "the lowest of the low of our world." He never denies using their services, though. All in all, I'm sure I would have liked the man, but I wouldn't have trusted him as far as he could throw me.Joseph Bonanno was a career criminal. Yes, he undercut the larger society with vice and drugs; and no, he does not apologize. In his non-apology I grasped a simple kernel of truth, and that is that a crime is only a crime if it is recognized as a crime. A hit man can sleep at night only because, as a Family "soldier" he does what soldiers have always done---killed their enemies in war. The Family-endorsed gratuitous violence that goes along with this is meant as a warning to others of the same Tradition.Let me hasten to add that I am not excusing murder and mayhem, but saying that murder and mayhem exist only in the absence of sanction. It is when two different social groups like gangsters and lawmen collide, or if a soldier exceeds his sanction, or if a person acts on his own to kill without sanction, that the question of the validity of sanction arises. The armed soldiery of any nation is not generally classed as a group of murderers, but remove sanction and recognition of sanction by one's self and others, and we are left with our Lieutenant Calleys and Reinhardt Heydrichs, our Charles Whitmans, our Osama bin Ladens, and our Mafia contract killers. Perhaps that's why assassination is often referred to as "sanction."Rationalize that gambling, liquor, and women and drugs are "what the people want," and the criminal aspect of vice becomes just a behavioral control mechanism of an authority to be disregarded. We accept only the sanctions we are prepared to accept. We ignore the sanction we are programmed to ignore. Ignore it, just as it was ignored by Joseph Bonanno, literate and intelligent though he obviously was.In a world comprised of men like himself, Bonanno was no criminal; but by living in 20th Century America, he was perforce subject to its values, not just his own. That's this Man of Honor's blind spot.Yes, it was "cosa nostra" it was "Our Thing" for Men of Tradition like Bonanno, but regardless, even understanding it, it does not make it, in practice, one whit less ugly than it really was.

I was never much to care about a autobiography, but I was recommended to pick this book up and give it a try. In all honestly, I loved this book. I am not being bias, or being selective. In fairness, some readers would not like this book or would find this book boring. The reason why I say this, is because if you are looking for 'Mob' stories, gun fights, bloodshed and its details, you really will not find that in this novel. What you will find is history, tradition, a way of life. What I mean by 'a way of life' is what Mr. Bohannon would describe his way of life, even though its long gone due too the American way of life and markets of consumers. He brings to light to truth behind the Mafia and its beginnings. Just like any 'Gang', and I use this term lightly, it was a society created to protect their own from outsiders. It allowed to give their own the opportunities to achieve when our set American market would not give them the chance to make something of themselves. But, you see this through his eyes. A true design of a leader. One can learn many things from this book, especially on how to be a true leader. Tradition is key and imperative. Growing up in a culture very similar to the Sicilian way of life in the past, I can relate to Mr. Bohannon and his way of life. I do feel that our companies and our current society has slowly fallen off track, and no longer sees the truth. Reading this book will allow you to see and understand what those distractions are and how yourself can remove oneself from the train headed for destruction. I don't want to give away what he talks about, as I would rather prefer you to read and interpret his writing into your own words. Think of a man providing his life lessons to you through a story of truth, to allow you to establish the building blocks of your persona and character. Remember, that a 'Man of Tradition' will always be remembered.

Never arrived and now out of stock 😢 A shame as this was the book Juliana used to convict a bunch of mobsters using the RICO act.One star for MIA

Mr. Bonanno provides an insider's view of organized crime - particularly the variety imported from Sicily - in the United States. It is a subject on which he is a unique authority as the longtime head of one of the country's major crime "families" and a Castellamarese Sicilian immigrant. He also enlightens readers somewhat with regard to what he perceives to be Sicilian traditions and the concept of "honor."Of course, Mr. Bonanno does not illuminate much of his own involvement in illegal enterprises, which is certainly extensive. The reader is forced to assume that the criminal activities described in great detail are ones Mr. Bonanno oversaw himself. A great many recognizable names are mentioned, but the boss took care not to seriously offend anyone who was still alive and kicking at the time the book was published.The book reaches back into the author's personal history from about the dawn of the 20th Century (some family history predates that) and the history of organized crime since the bootlegger wars of the Prohibition days. It advances into more modern times, though the recent information becomes sketchy.As a first-hand account by a "don," this is a must-read for those deeply interested in the history of the American "Mafia." But it may disappoint more casual readers. And some may find objectionable the author's insistence that his criminal activity has been "honorable," his often sexist and racist views and his tendency to flatter himself (a tendency that was apparently passed on to his son, who also wrote a glowing autobiographical account of his work in the "family").

Ordered A Man Of Honor, the autobiography of Joe Bonanno. Book was brand new and in perfect condition, still wrapped in plastic. It is the hardcover, which has been discontinued for decades. Very happy with books condition and the customer service.

a Good read

Very interesting read, highly recommended.

Tinha ouvido falar deste livro em um documentário sobre a máfia, e me interessei pacas, pois foi baseado neste livro que o giuliani montou o processo dele sobre a máfia italiana nos estados unidos.Só é bom ler considerando que é um gangster que escreveu a autobiografia, então ele se defende em vários aspectos, mas é interessante ver o mundo da máfia italiana sobre a ótica de um dos grandes participantes.

Die Meinungen über die Autobiografie des nie verurteilten aber überall als Mafiaboss bezeichneten Josef Bonanno werden auseinandergehen: wahre Geschichte oder alles frei erfunden? Wer am Thema Mafia" interessiert ist, wird das Buch verschlingen.Das Buch eignet sich nicht unbedingt als Beweis für die Existenz der organisierten Kriminalität oder für die Verstrickung der Bonanno Familie in Drogenhandel oder in sonstige Verbrechen. Josef Bonanno erzählt zwar die Geschichte der New Yorker Mafia von ca. 1920 bis 1965, aber er akzeptiert diesen Begriff Mafia eigentlich nicht und er wehrt sich vehement gegen die Kriminalisierung.Josef Bonanno verkörpert eine Generation von Menschen aus dem 19. Jhd, die mit ihrer Mentalität (oder Kultur) im damaligen Sizilien groß geworden sind und in einer Zeit ohne Rechtsstaatlichkeit überlebt haben. Die Bevorzugung von Familienmitgliedern, die "Vetterleswirtschaft", die Abgrenzung eines eigenen Territoriums, die Vertreibung der Konkurrenz auch mit gewaltsamen Mitteln und das Streben nach monopolartigen Verhältnissen war damals wohl ein legitimes Vorgehen.In den USA des 20. Jhd. konnte dies auf Dauer nicht gut gehen und Bonanno war bald den Nachstellungen der Polizeibehörden ausgesetzt. Aus heutiger Sicht zu recht, aber man kann es kaum vermeiden für Bonanno gewisse Sympathie und Verständnis zu empfinden. Die Zeiten waren damals doch anders und die angestrebten Ideale waren ja längst nicht erreicht.Bonanno beschreibt seine Lebensphilosophie authentisch und nachvollziehbar. Im Vordergrund seines Strebens stand immer das wirtschaftliche Überleben der Familie, die Sicherung der Einkommen, die Erziehung der Kinder usw. Bonannos Vision ist der gute Fürst (il Príncipe oder Der Pate), der das Wohl seiner Untertanen sicherstellt. Er ist nicht grundsätzlich gegen Demokratie, aber wenn der demokratische Entscheid schlecht ist, dann muss doch einer (der Fürst?) widersprechen und das Volk auf den rechten Weg lenken, oder?Um sein positives Image als erfolgreiches Familienoberhaupt nicht zu schwächen, erwähnt er seine konkreten Methoden oder Geschäfte nie im Detail. Ob Drogenhandel dabei war, wie Konkurrenten tatsächlich eingeschüchtert oder ausgeschalten wurden, oder ob es sonst irgendwelche Geschädigten auf der anderen Seite - außerhalb seiner Familie - gab, wird ausgeblendet. Er schildert jedoch sehr spannend die internen Machtkämpfe und die Auseinandersetzungen mit den gegnerischen Familien oder mit FBI und Justiz. Um ihn herum sieht er nur Feinde, vor denen man den ganzen Clan beschützen muss. Der Stärkere gewinnt, der Clevere überlebt; so war es gemäß Bonanno seit Hunderten von Jahren, so wird es also immer sein.Dem muss man entgegenhalten, dass diese Weltanschauung leider nicht dazu führt, dass sich die Gesellschaft am Ende insgesamt weiterentwickelt. Er vergisst nämlich die Untertanen des weniger edlen Fürsten, die z. B. im Nachbarterritorium möglicherweise leiden müssen. Er würde eher den gerechten Krieg zur Befreiung dieser benachteiligten Menschen befürworten. Die Stärkung demokratischer Strukturen, Gewaltenteilung und die Schaffung des Rechtsstaats hat er nicht im Fokus. Und fast wickelt Bonanno den Leser um seinen Finger, so dass man verführt wird, an seine Vision zu glauben ...